ONE team is looking to extend its dominance by winning another title in the PBA, Asia’s first play-for-pay league.

The other team is hoping to capture its first-ever All-Filipino crown right on its initial finals appearance.

With this on mind, defending champion San Miguel Beer and Meralco begin their PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven championship series starting on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

And while the two teams took different routes on their way to the finals, the players and the coaching staff of both San Miguel and Meralco are ready and confident when they take the floor at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent and Meralco mentor Luigi Trillo know what’s at stake and agree the coming title series would be a lot different than their semifinal battles against Rain or Shine and Barangay Ginebra, respectively.

San Miguel swept Rain or Shine, 4-0, while Meralco survived Ginebra, 4-3, in their semifinal series.

Now, Gallent and Trillo claim they can throw out of the window the results of those matches as they begin a new battle.

“We just prepared when they (Bolts) won last Friday. We only had three to four days to prepare against them,” said Gallent during the PBA Finals presser — presented by Bingo Plus — between the two teams at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas.

“I’m just scared we might just be a little rusty. But we’ll see it on Wednesday,” added Gallent.

.“We’ve already been to a lot of games in the PBA na alam natin that one game won’t define our series,” said Trillo.

“One thing that we noticed with them is that they’re going to be ready, they’ve got experience, they’re well-coached, and their management is all out in support for them. We have a lot of respect to that organization,” added Trillo.

Meralco defeated San Miguel, 95-92, in their lone eliminations game in Batangas City.

That win denied San Miguel a rare 11-0 sweep record.

But both Gallent and Trillo admitted the loss is a thing of the past now.

“It was a game where our minds was on the sweep but as what (coach) Luigi said their backs were against the wall. And if they lost that game, they would not make it to the playoffs,” explained Gallent.

“So they played their hearts out, we also played our hearts out to get the sweep, but that didn’t happen. But it’s done. We’ve learned from our mistakes in that game and we just have to get better.

Also present during the presser were PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial, San Miguel governor Robert Non, players Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter, Don Trollano, Jericho Cruz, CJ Perez, and June Mar Fajardo, Meralco governor Atty. Bill Pamintuan, and players Chris Newsome, Bong Quinto, Allein Maliksi, Cliff Hodge, Chris Banchero and Raymond Almazan.

Game Wednesday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
7:30 p.m. — San Miguel vs. Meralco

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya